SFMOMA: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Too many people think that modern art is incomprehensible art. You know, like the all-white or all-gray painting that conveys the dull emptiness of human existence. But that kind of art—Minimalist Abstract Expressionism, or as I like to call it, Silly Art That Even I Could Create—occupies only a few of the 50 gallery rooms inside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Most of this museum’s art is far more absorbing.
It all starts with the 1995 building, a fine work of modern art itself with its simple brick façade contrasted by its crowning, sunflower-like glass turret, which floods much of the building with natural sunlight. Inside is a marvel of robust spaces and curving walls, highlighted by the five-story atrium and fifth-floor views of San Francisco’s highrises from a floating, glass-enclosed walking bridge and from the outdoor sculpture garden. It may take you a few hours before reaching the sculpture garden, however, because first you must make it through four floors of fascinating art above the first-floor Caffé Museo and museum store.
Represented is the full spectrum of art styles of the Twentieth Century, plus pinches from the 19th and 21st. The major artists you’d expect to find are here, including Jackson Pollock, Georgia O’Keefe, Andy Warhol, and appropriately side-by-side paintings by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. But there are also lesser-known artists and edgy contemporary pieces, plus an inordinate degree of attention on photography. An entire floor takes the visitor through all of the major genres, from 1850 daguerrotypes to metaphysical, experimental and landscape photography. Additional images by Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and Ansel Adams are displayed on another floor. You’ll see sculptures, too, and works as contemporary as the 2009 wall-sized collage of sunsets culled from Flickr.
Free headphones and touch-screen devices, number-coded to more than 150 of the museum’s art works and artists, offer more than five hours of audio-visual interpretation. There are also several general and artist-specific guided tours and several short to feature-length films shown in the museum lecture hall. Also, the second-floor Koret Visitor Education Center offers the use of computers and a kids’ area.
Most of the current collection is part of the Anniversary Show, commemorating the museum’s 75th year and lasting through at least January 2011. Much of this art will remain on display after that date, as well. New exhibitions will complement the Anniversary Show this summer (the world-class Fisher Collection on two floors) and fall (Design + Wine).
SFMOMA is the centerpiece of a thriving arts district that’s emerged in the SOMA (South of Market) district. Several other museums are found in a two-block radius, notably the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the new Contemporary Jewish Museum. Moscone Convention Center and high-end hotels and restaurants are also nearby. As for SFMOMA, it’s worth a visit even if you don’t care for “White Cat Drinking Milk in a Snowstorm.”
- by Bob Cooper, San Francisco Reporter for HelloMetro
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Bob CooperBob Cooper is a full-time freelance writer (www.bob-cooper.com) who writes about travel, outdoor sports and health. He is a monthly contributor to Runner's World and has written recent articles for other national magazines such as Continental, Ladies' Home Journal and Inc.
